Total Control

  Explorer. The disk was safely in her pocket. It would have to wait for now. She had something else to do that at that moment was even more important.

  The Ford pulled into the McDonald's parking lot. Sidney went inside, ordered a take-out lunch and went down the hallway toward the rest room, stopping at the pay phone. After dialing, she scanned the parking lot for signs of the FBI. She saw nothing out of the ordinary, which was good--they were supposed to be invisible. But a shiver went down her back as she wondered who else was out there.

  A voice came on the other end of the phone line. It took her several minutes to calm her father down. When she stated her request, he began to erupt all over again.

  "What the hell do you want me to do that for?"

  "Please, Dad. I want you and More to go. And I want you to take Amy with you."

  "You know we never go to Maine after Labor Day."

  Sidney held the receiver away from her mouth and took a deep breath. "Look, Dad, you read the paper."

  He started off again. "That's the biggest bunch of bullshit I ever heard. Sid--"

  "Dad, just listen to me. I don't have time to argue." She had never raised her voice to her father like that.

  They were both quiet for a moment.

  When she broke the silence, her voice was firm. "The FBI just left my house. Jason was involved in... something. I'm not exactly sure what yet. But if even half of what that story reported is true..." She shuddered. "On the flight back from New Orleans a man spoke to me. His name was Edward Page. He was a private investigator. He was investigating something to do with Jason."

  Bill Patterson's voice was incredulous. "What was he investigating Jason for?"

  "I don't know. He wouldn't tell me."

  "Well, I say we go ask him and we don't take no for an answer."

  "We can't ask him: He was murdered about five minutes after he left me, Dad."

  Stunned, Bill Patterson could no longer find his voice.

  "Will you please go to the house in Maine, Dad? Please. As soon as possible."

  Patterson didn't answer for a few seconds. When he finally spoke, his voice was weak. "We'll leave after lunch. I'll pack my shotgun just in case."

  Sidney's hunched shoulders relaxed in relief.

  "Sidney?"

  "Yes, Dad?"

  "I want you to come with us."

  Sidney shook her head. "I can't do that, Dad."

  Her father exploded. "Why the hell not? You're up there all alone. You're Jason's wife. You could sure as hell be a target in all this."

  "The FBI are watching me."

  "You think they're invulnerable? You don't think they make mistakes?

  Don't be crazy, honey."

  "I can't, Dad. The FBI probably aren't the only ones watching me.

  If I came with you so would they." Sidney's entire body shook as she uttered the words.

  "Jesus, baby." Sidney could distinctly hear her father swallowing over the phone line. "Look, why don't I send your mother and Amy up there and I'll come stay with you."

  "I don't want them or you getting involved in this. It's enough that I am. And I want you with Amy and Mom. I want you to protect them. I can take care of myself."

  "I've never lacked for confidence in you, baby girl. But... but this is a little different. If these people have already killed..." Bill Patterson couldn't finish. He had gone numb at the prospect of losing his youngest to violent death.

  "Dad, I'll be fine. I have my pistol. The FBI are out there every minute. I'll check in with you every day."

  "Sid--"

  "Dad, I'll be fine."

  Patterson didn't answer right away. Finally he said resignedly, "Okay, but call twice a day."

  "Okay, twice a day. Give Mom my love. I know the paper must have upset her. But don't tell her about our talk."

  "Sid, your mother's no fool. She's gonna wonder why we're suddenly taking off for Maine at this time of year."

  "Please, Dad. Just make up something."

  Bill Patterson finally sighed. "Anything else?"

  "Tell Amy I love her. Tell her that me and her dad love her more than anything." Wet clusters were forming around Sidney's eyes as the one thing she desperately wanted to do, be with her daughter, was now firmly beyond her. In order to keep Amy safe, Sidney had to stay away, far away.

  "I'll tell her, sweetie," Bill Patterson said quietly.

  Sidney devoured her lunch on the ride back home. She dashed through the house and within a minute was sitting in front of her husband's computer. She had taken the precaution of locking the door to the room and bringing her cellular phone with her just in case she had to dial 911. She slid the disk out of her jacket pocket, pulled the pistol out and laid them both down on the table next to her.

  She turned on the computer and watched the screen as the computer began to wake up. When she was about to pop the disk into the floppy drive she jolted upright, her eyes transfixed by what was on the screen. The available memory figure had just come up. Something wasn't right. She hit several keys on the keyboard. The available hard disk memory again came across the screen and then held.

  Sidney read the figures slowly: 1,356,600 kilobytes, or about 1.3 gigs, of hard drive were available. She stared hard at the last three digits. She thought back to the last time she had sat in front of the computer. The last three digits of the available memory had been Jason's birthday--seven, zero, six, a fact that had caused her to cry.

  To break down once again. She had prepared herself for that again, but there was less memory available now. But how could that be?

  She hadn't touched the computer since...

  Oh, Christ/

  A knot erupted in her stomach as she jumped up from the chair, grabbed the pistol and put the disk back in her jacket pocket. She almost felt like putting a round right into the damned computer screen. Sawyer had been right and wrong. Right that someone had been in her house while she was in New Orleans. Wrong that they had come to take something. They had left something instead.

  Something that resided on her husband's computer. Something that she was running from now as quickly as she could.

  It took her ten minutes to return to McDonald's and get back on the pay phone. Her secretary's tone was strained.

  "Hello, Ms. Archer."

  Ms. Archer? Her secretary had been with her almost six years and hadn't called her Ms. Archer after the second day. Sidney ignored it for the moment. "Sarah, is Jeff in today?" Jeff Fisher was Tyler, Stone's resident computer guru.

  'Tm not sure. Would you like me to transfer you to his assistant, Ms. Archer?"

  Sidney finally blurted out, "Sarah, what the hell is it with the Ms. Archer label?"

  Sarah didn't immediately answer, but then she started to whisper furiously into the phone. "Sid, that story in the paper is all over the firm. They've faxed it to every office. The Triton people are threatening to pull the entire account from the firm. Mr. Wharton is furious. And it's no secret that all the higher-ups are blaming you."

  'Tm as much in the dark as everyone else."

  "Well, that story made it seem... you know."

  Sidney sighed heavily. "You want to transfer me to Henry? I'll straighten this whole thing out."

  Sarah's response rocked her boss. "The management committee held a meeting this morning. They teleconferenced in the partners from the other offices. Rumor has it that they're putting together a letter to send to you."

  "A letter? What kind of letter?" The astonishment was rapidly growing on Sidney's face.

  In the background, Sidney could hear people passing by Sarah's cubicle. After the noise drifted away, Sarah spoke, her voice even lower. "I... I don't know how to tell you this, but I heard it was a letter of termination."

  "Termination?" Sidney put one hand up against the wall to steady herself. "I haven't even been accused of anything and they've already tried and convicted me and now they're sentencing me? All because of that one story?"

  "I think everyone here
is worried about the firm surviving. Most people are pointing their finger at you." Sarah added quickly, "And your husband. To find out Jason's still alive... People feel betrayed, they really do."

  Sidney drew a large breath and her shoulders slumped down. A complete weariness dragged at her.

  "My God, Sarah, how do you think I felt?" Sarah didn't say anything.

  Sidney fingered the disk in her pocket. The pistol made an uncomfortable lump under her jacket front. She would just have to get used to that. "Sarah, I wish I could explain it to you, but I can't.

  All I can tell you is I haven't done anything wrong and I don't know what the hell's happened to my life. But I don't have much time.

  Could you discreetly find out if Jeff's in? Please, Sarah."

  Sarah paused and then said, "Hold on, Sid."

  As it turned out, Jeff had taken a few days off. Sarah gave Sidney his home number. She prayed he was not out of town. Around three o'clock, Sidney finally reached him. Her original plan had been to meet him at the firm. However, now that was out of the question.

  Instead, she made arrangements to meet him at his home in Alexandria.

  It didn't hurt that he had not been at the office the last couple of days to hear all the rumors swirling around her. When Sidney told him she had a computer problem, he was eager to assist. He had some business to take care of but would be home around eight. She would just have to wait it out.

  Two hours later a knock at the door startled Sidney while she was nervously pacing through the living room. She looked through the peephole and then opened the door in mild surprise. Lee Sawyer didn't wait to be asked in. He strode through the foyer and sat down in one of the chairs next to the fireplace hearth. The fire had long since gone out.

  "Where's your partner?"

  Sawyer ignored her question. "I checked in at Triton," he said.

  "You didn't tell me you had paid a call there this morning."

  She stood in front of him, her arms crossed. She had showered and changed into a black pleated skirt and white V-neck sweater. Her hair, combed straight back, was still damp. She was in her stocking feet; her pumps lay next to the sofa. "You didn't ask."

  Sawyer grunted. "So what did you think of your husband's little video?"

  "I really haven't given it much thought."

  "Like hell you haven't."

  She sat down on the sofa, drawing her legs up underneath her before responding. "What exactly do you want?" she said stiffly.

  "The truth wouldn't be bad, to start with. From there we might be able to move on to some solutions."

  "Like putting my husband in prison for the rest of his life? That's the solution you want, isn't it?" She slung the words at him.

  Sawyer absently fingered the badge on his belt. His stern expression faded. When he looked at her, his eyes were weary, his big body listing to one side. "Look, Sidney, like I said, I was at the crash site that night. I ... I held that little shoe in my hand too." His voice started to break up. Tears appeared in Sidney's eyes, but she continued to look at him, even as her frame started to shake.

  Sawyer resumed speaking, his voice low but clear. "I see photos all over your house of a very happy family. A handsome husband, one of the prettiest little girls I've ever laid my eyes on and..." He paused. "And a very beautiful wife and mother." Sidney's cheeks flushed at the words.

  Embarrassed, Sawyer hurried on. "It makes no sense to me that your husband, even if he did steal from his employer, would have participated in blowing up that plane." A tear plunged from Sidney's cheek and stained the couch while she listened. "Now, I won't lie to you and tell you that I think your husband is completely innocent.

  For your sake, I hope to God he is and this whole mess can be explained somehow. But my job is to find whoever brought down that plane and killed all those people." He took a long breath. "Including the owner of that little shoe." He paused again. "And I'm going to do my job."

  "Go on," Sidney encouraged him, one hand nervously gripping the hemline of her skirt.

  "The best lead I have now is your husband. The only way I know to explore that lead right now is through you."

  "So you want me to help you bring my husband in?"

  "I want you to tell me anything you can that will help me get to the bottom of this. Don't you want that too?"

  It took Sidney a full minute to respond. When the word finally came, it was buttressed by sobs. "Yes." She said nothing else for several moments. Finally she looked at him. "But my little girl needs me. I don't know where Jason is, and if I were to go away too ..."

  Her voice trailed off.

  Sawyer looked confused for a moment and then it dawned on him what she was saying. He reached across and gently took one of her hands. "Sidney, I don't believe you had anything to do with any of this. I'm sure as hell not going to arrest you and take you away from your daughter. Maybe you didn't tell me the whole story before, but Christ, you're only human. I can't even begin to imagine the pressure you've been under. Please believe me. And trust me." He let go of her hand and sat back.

  She dabbed at her eyes, managed a brief smile, and composed herself.

  She took one last deep breath before taking the plunge. "That was my husband on the phone the day you came by." After having said it, she glanced sharply at Sawyer, as though she were still afraid that he might pull out his handcuffs. He merely hunched forward, his face a mass of wrinkles.

  "What did he say? Give it to me as precisely as you can."

  "He said that he knew things looked bad, but that he would explain everything as soon as he saw me. I was so thrilled to know he was alive, I didn't ask very many questions. He also called me from the airport before he got on the plane on the day of the crash."

  Sawyer perked up. "But I didn't have time to talk to him."

  Sidney steeled herself for another guilt attack as the memory flooded back to her. Then she recounted to Sawyer Jason's late nights at the office and their early morning conversation before he had left for the airport.

  "And he suggested the New Orleans trip?" Sawyer asked.

  She nodded. "He said if he didn't contact me at the hotel that I should go to Jackson Square and he would get a message to me there."

  "The shoe shine guy, right?"

  Sidney nodded again.

  Sawyer sighed. "So that was Jason you called from the pay phone?"

  "Actually, the message said to call my office number, only Jason answered. He said not to say anything, that the police were around.

  He told me to go home and he would contact me when it was safe to do so."

  "But he hasn't as yet?"

  She slowly shook her head. "They heard nothing."

  Sawyer chose his words carefully. "You know, Sidney, your loyalty is admirable, it really is. You've lived up to your marriage vows big-time, because I don't think even God himself envisioned these kinds of 'bad times.""

  "But?" She looked at him searchingly.

  "But there comes a time when you have to look beyond the devotion, beyond the feelings you have for someone and consider the cold, hard facts. I'm not very eloquent, but if your husband did something wrong--and I'm not saying he did--then you shouldn't go down with him. Like you said, you've got a little girl who needs you. I've got four kids of my own; I'm not the greatest father in the world, but I can still relate."

  "So what are you proposing?" Her voice was hushed.

  "Cooperation. Nothing more than that. You give me info, I give